Tippecanoe Valley’s Anne Secrest shoots over two Wawasee defenders for a bucket in Tuesday night’s 45-25 Valley win in Syracuse. (Photos by Mike Deak)

SYRACUSE – A pair of key spurts by Tippecanoe Valley was all it took to put together a 45-25 girls basketball win over Wawasee Tuesday night at the Hardwood Teepee.

Early on, Wawasee looked the more confident side, jumping out to a 7-3 lead. Valley, however, recorded three steals and layups on three consecutive possessions to reclaim a 9-7 lead. While only minutes into the game, Wawasee head coach Kem Zolman could see things already slipping away.

Wawasee’s Seaquinn Bright looks for room to shoot around Valley defender Hannah Dunn.

His team wasn’t dead just yet, trailing only 25-15 midway through the third quarter. But again, consecutive possessions of success from Valley completely swung momentum. A backdoor cut and layup by Taylor Trippiedi, followed by a three-pointer in the corner by Meredith Brouyette this time gave Valley an unreachable 30-15 advantage.

“It was the first quarter, we jump out to a 7-3 lead, then that’s it,” Zolman said without hesitation. “That’s all we had tonight. Until the young ladies decide they want to play the game of basketball…they are great kids, they follow everything to a tee. To a fault. They forget to play the game. I’m not sure they know how to, to be honest. They follow instructions better than anybody I’ve ever been around. To a fault.

Brynda Krueger of Tippecanoe Valley filled a vital role at guard with starter Karis Tucker out.

“When the defense does certain things and an offense has to react to it, it’s called playing.”

Valley, which improved its season mark to 17-2 overall, won its fourth in a row despite scoring its third-lowest point total of the season. But the 25 points allowed to Wawasee, which only managed two points in the second quarter and three in the third, was a notation that left Lady Vikings head coach Chris Kindig more than impressed.

“I would say defensively we did a pretty decent job,” Kindig said. “It was good to get here and play Wawasee, which are scrappy. They have a couple players you have to take care of.”

Leading the way for Valley was Anne Secrest, to which Wawasee had no answers defensively. The super sophomore scored 22 points and tallied up 12 rebounds, five blocks and three steals in yet another all-around monster effort. Secrest converted on all three of the layups in that first quarter spurt, part of a 10-point first quarter.

Wawasee’s Aubrey Schmeltz shoots over Valley’s Anne Secrest.

“To Wawasee’s credit, they made her work at times,” Kindig said of Secrest. “You never have to question Anne’s effort and intensity. She comes to play every night. It’s not just her, but everybody comes out. It’s a team thing. We all played well tonight.”

Trippiedi added 10 points and three assists while Brouyette connected on two threes for the Lady Vikings.

Wawasee’s shooting woes were emblematic of its season mark, now at 4-15 overall, where the Lady Warriors hit just one jumper in a 19-minute stretch. Valley built a 20-point lead during that time frame. Kylee Rostochak, Wawasee’s leading scorer at almost 14 points per game, was just one of 10 from the floor and was held to seven points in the game. Seaquinn Bright also had seven points and led Wawasee with five rebounds.

The JV game between Wawasee and Valley went to overtime, with the visitors taking a 45-38 win. Morgan Brazo led Valley with 18 points and Addy Miller added 13 points. Kayla White paced Wawasee with 14 points, Madison Beaman chipping in nine points.

Wawasee, the Class 3-A Sectional 21 host in February, has now faced all six potential sectional opponents this season including Valley, only beating Lakeland back in mid-November. The Lady Warriors will look to right the ship in the Northern Lakes Conference Saturday in hosting Concord, which both clubs are 0-5 in the NLC.

Tippecanoe Valley is looking to seal up a perfect 7-0 run in the Three Rivers Conference when it hosts Manchester Saturday evening. Valley has already clinched at least a share of the title, its first since the 2012 season, or, if Valley can top Manchester, hold the title outright for the first time since 2009.